The Island of Dr. Moreau is the definitive novel of human horror by H. G. Wells (The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man), the English author hailed as "The Father of Sci-Fi". When a shipwreck survivor is brought to the remote island compound of once-eminent physiologist Dr. Moreau, he will discover that the disgraced surgeon is now creating a hybrid race of human/animal beings. The novel deals with a number of philosophical themes, including pain and cruelty, moral responsibility, human identity and the grisly extremes of science’s interference with nature. Are we not men?

The Island of Dr. Moreau - which Wells himself described as "an exercise in youthful blasphemy" - is a classic of early science fiction and remains one of the author’s best-known novels. Its popular film adaptations throughout the 20th century have included memorable performances by Charles Laughton (1933), Burt Lancaster (1977), and Marlon Brando (1996) as the mad doctor.

This special Severin edition of The Island of Dr. Moreau is narrated by Richard Stanley, the acclaimed South African writer/director of Hardware, Dust Devil, and Color Out of Space. In the mid-90s, Stanley’s pursuit of a modern epic adaptation of Wells’ novel met an unprecedented storm of disasters that included monstrous egos, production chaos, temporary insanity, and witchcraft, all of which was chronicled in the award-winning Severin Films documentary Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau.